If you would like to join us in making another memorable Christmas for our Big Oak family, please fill out the form below.

I got to experience my first real Christmas the year I moved to the Ranch, as an 11-year-old. Some of the traditions I carry on from the Ranch include a new family ornament we would buy each year and reading the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve. My Ranch sisters and I would open Secret Santa gifts on Christmas Eve before bed, a tradition Ryan and I look forward to continuing with our children.

Not only are perspectives changed but hearts are changed. The displays of love that I experienced at the Ranch helped me better understand the unconditional love of God, an understanding I strive to carry into my marriage and life. 

Not only are hearts changed but families are changed. It took a village to raise me. This village is more than the houseparents I call "mom" and "dad," and it's more than even those at Big Oak Ranch. My village also consists of my resource parents and my church family. And even now, my village continues to grow as my mother and father-in-loves continue to help guide me.

Not only are families changed but futures are changed. My Big Oak family molded me into the person I am today, and even still, I'm not done growing, nor am I done learning. My Ranch family continues to encourage and love me today. They saw me through my high school and college graduations. They encouraged me when my heart broke and celebrated with me when my heart soared. Even now, after 12 years since leaving the Ranch and living two states away, I can count on my Ranch family to have my back, give me advice, cheer me on from afar, and love me. That is family. That is home.

As we like to say at Big Oak, Hope changes everything. As you celebrate the Hope of Christ and God's ultimate display of unfailing, never-ending love for us this Christmas, we invite you to help show children at Big Oak Ranch, they too, are loved. One way to do this is by helping provide a memorable Christmas. The memories will last a lifetime and the love shown will be passed down for generations to come.